Dhubaib, former chairman of the Contracting Committee at the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has described the GCC finance ministers' approval on Saturday for exempting imported construction materials from custom duty as a “positive step for Gulf markets”. “Although the aim of duties is to protect national products and prevent foreign dumping, Gulf markets currently have a shortage in steel supplies, so opening the markets to imported steel and cement will ensure sufficient quantities at reasonable prices and eliminate manipulation and black market activity,” Al-Dhubaib said. Duties and the protection they offered to local factories led to delays in production and an exertion of pressure on the market to push prices up to targeted levels, he said. “The exemption from fees, however, will not immediately solve the problem because it is not so much about prices as it is about the shortage of supply which will see black market activity continue,” he said. The Ministry of Trade and Industry has previously been blamed for the recent steel crisis due to its insistence on maintaining former prices in the face of factory requests for permission to raise prices to match increased raw material costs. Factories subsequently reduced their output to avoid potential losses.
